There aren't enough officers to safely police Teesside as the region's crime crisis deepens, an MP has warned.

Dr Paul Williams led a debate in the House of Commons about the crime emergency in his constituency, Stockton South, on Tuesday.

He told stories of how elderly residents are terrified to leave their house, and people being woken at night by addicts "loudly bashing on the door" looking to buy drugs.

And he put the stark facts out into the open - in the past seven years there had been a 55% increase in crime across the Cleveland Police area, with a staggering 83% jump in Stockton South.

Dr Paul Williams has met with business owners in Thornaby Town Centre (Image: Evening Gazette)

Over the same period there's been a £34m real terms budget cut - with 500 officers and 50 PCSOs lost.

"There is a real problem in my constituency," said the Labour MP , who said the pages of The Gazette are full of stories about rising crime.

Before the debate he called the Tories record "absolutely shocking" and said "politicians in Westminster have forgotten about areas like ours", demanding more funding and more police officers on the streets.

Flanked by Labour colleague for Stockton North Alex Cunningham in Parliament, the MPs asked why Home Secretary Sajid Javid had not responded to a letter signed by Teesside Labour MPs.

Dr Paul Williams MP and Theresa May during Prime Minister's Questions

And Dr Williams continued: "I didn't want initially to air some of this in public, the reason we wrote to the Home Secretary privately is because there is a genuine concern about keeping confidence in police locally.

"I don't want to undermine confidence in the police's ability to do its job.

"But when the police are telling me they don't have enough police to safely police the area, and when you approach the Home Secretary privately to try and get a response, and you don't, there's nothing else open to Parliament but to air some of the problems in public."

And taking on Tory Mayor Ben Houchen's calls for Cleveland Police to be "abolished", he said: "Cleveland has high levels of sophisticated urban crime and officers have unique skills and expertise.

"The Tory Tees Valley mayor’s suggestion of abolition would be a criminal's wet dream for Teesside.

"It'd dilute the effectiveness of the police, and is entirely the wrong strategic response."

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The MP challenged Prime Minister Theresa May over police cuts earlier this month.

Home Office Minister Victoria Atkins said she will look to get Mr Javid to response to the MPs' letter, but defended the Government's record on crime: "The likelihood of being a victim of crime remains low, but we are not complacent.

"I wouldn't want anyone to think that the Home Office does not take the concerns of the North-east seriously when it comes to crime."

After the debate, Cleveland Police's outgoing Assistant Chief Constable Jason Harwin said crime statistics "only form part of a bigger picture" in the force's battle to reduce crime.

"We listen to our communities, identify crime trends and use police tactics to disrupt criminal and antisocial activity," he said.

"Whether this is by dismantling drug networks, closing crack houses, or issuing dispersal orders – our aim is to bring people to justice and reduce repeat patterns of offending."

Assistant chief constable Jason Harwin (Image: Katie Lunn)

ACC Harwin said the force works in schools to allow youngsters to understand the impact of antisocial behaviour, while neighbourhood teams in Stockton run "Operation Impact" every night, patrolling key hotspot areas with Stockton Council enforcement officers.

"Police officers and police staff are committed to protecting our communities with the resources that they have available, and key to this success is members of the public telling us about issues in their local area," he continued.